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I know he wasn’t the only one, this All-Star game could be called the No Show game with all the replacements that took place this year. I mean there were 86 All-Stars! 86! 45 for the American League alone. I suck at math, but that seems like a lot. So you get picked as an All-Star and you can just choose not to show? And the players are supposed to care about the fans? Come on. I haven’t said much about this in a few days, I felt like I bashed Derek Jeter enough last week, then he goes out and has a game for the ages while racking up his 3,000th hit, and then some. But he WAS healthy enough to play all weekend. I mean, after just coming off the disabled list for a strained calf then playing in 7 straight games, nobody would blame him for wanting to use that time to rest. Which is what he did. But he couldn’t come and tip his hat to the fans? He would have gotten an ovation of a lifetime. And I am sure those fans in Phoenix would have loved to at least see the newest member of the 3,000 hit club. And when these players decide not to show, why do they get replaced? Bill Simmons of Grantland.com had a great tweet earlier today.

@sportsguy33 Wrote My MLB All-Star Game idea: We name the rosters… those are the rosters. That’s it. Anyone who bows out screws their league over.

What a great idea! This would be an awesome fix. Let’s hold players accountable to the fans. I mean, don’t they pick up some extra fundage for just being named to the team? Is that first announcements, or replacements? If they are getting paid, shouldn’t they show up? Instead it was just a game of no shows.

It has to just suck to have the All-Star game at your place and the only two players introduced the majority of people have no clue who they are. And those were just the reserves. There is no ONE in the starting lineup.

For those of you who have voted in the All-Star balloting, have you watched any games? Honestly? This is the rosters you chose for both the National League and the American League. This is probably why I myself have never voted. Shoot I would probably choose nine Yankees. But then there would be my first argument. How many of those nine would actually be worthy? I know they are in first place but all nine are All-Star caliber? This Year? See there in lies the problem. Everyone has their favourite teams and hence have their favourite players. So it is easy to just vote for the name you know, whether they are deserving or not. Take a case in point, if I chose to vote how I described above, I would have inevitably picked Derek Jeter. So did apparently a bunch of you. So Jeter has had an All-Star caliber type of year? More like a has been caliber type of year. And I am a huge Derek Jeter fan. To me he is one of maybe the top 5 players of all time. But that is debatable. And I am biased. But what I am not biased about is his performance this year. It is mediocre at best. He has been chastised and vilified all season long for his below average play. And now he is an All-Star? And a starter? Now granted like I said before he is one of the greatest players to ever play the game, and definitely one of the best shortstops, but the All-Star game should be about current quality players. Now some may argue that there aren’t a many great American League shortstops right now and I would agree. But players like Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta deserve to start ahead of him. Just look at their numbers. And Peralta wasn’t even slected! Jeter wins by default? Due to longevity?

I wasn’t going to make this out to just be about Jeter. There are plenty of other injustices. What about Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates? He is not having an All-Star type season? Certainly better than Jay Bruce of the Reds and I don’t care how many home runs he has. And McCutchen, once again isn’t even a reserve. Then we go to real injustices, CC Sabathia has 12 wins. Most of anyone in the big leagues and he is not an All-Star? He’s not one of the best pitchers in the American League? Now I understand he is scheduled to take the mound in Yankee stadium the Sunday before the All-Star game so he wouldn’t have been available anyway. But he doesn’t deserve the recognition? And maybe the biggest snub of all, Paul Konerko of the White Sox. He might be the leading candidate for MVP and he is not an All-Star? That is just silly. But then this whole process seems silly. And we voted on it.